Monday, May 8, 2023

Sneakerness Zürich 2023

I just returned from Zurich, where the Sneakerness took place this weekend.
I was honored to share the culture stage with my buddy Hikmet for a talk about the history 
of sneaker culture. 
A short panel talk that was hosted by Tommy, who I was so happy to speak a few sentences in 
my second mother tongue, once I realized he is hungarian. Tamás will be hosting the Sneakerness 
Budapest in November and totally got me hooked on the idea to return to my second home 
after many years.
I also was gifted a pair of perfect custom sox by the charming Mehrnaz from the female sneaker 
corner, organized by her crew - the femalesneakerheads.
Big thanks to Sergio for inviting me to Zürich.
I had a wonderful time and hope to see you all again at the next sneakers very soon!

All pictures after the jump





























Monday, March 27, 2023

"AIR - Courting a Legend "

Last week I was fortunate enough to watch the press screening of "AIR - Courting a Legend ".













































The biographical sports drama film directed by Ben Affleck and written by Alex Convery. 
The film stars Matt Damon (Sonny Vaccaro), Ben Affleck (Phil Knight), Jason Bateman 
(marketing legend Rob Strasser)Viola Davis (Deloris Jordan, Michael's mother, which Jordan 
insisted on for the role), Chris Messina (David Falk - Jordan's Manager) and Chris Tucker 
(Howard White, today's vice-president of the Jordan brand)

It's plot chronicles the origin of the Air Jordan shoeline and how Nike, Inc. employee Sonny 
Vaccaro goes above and beyond to strike a business deal with rookie basketball player 
Michael Jordanbuilding the company into the international shoe and athletic apparel giant it 
is today.

Now for those of you who might not know, I am a cineast and huge movie addict (I watch a 
minimum of 4 movies at home and visit the cinema at least once a week).

I did not watch the film with any expectations as seeing terribly shaped retro sneakers being 
placed as OG pieces in the trailer already and was worried about that lack of details in the 
rest of the movie, but apart from the missing OG shapes and models being used, I must say 
I was pleasantly surprised!

Viola, Matt and Jason play their parts beautifully and overall the storytelling keeps a nice 
dynamic. 
The movie is filled with fun facts and background information on the brand and the exceptional 
deal it's portraying, without even showing Michael's face once; so lots of great tidbits for those 
who have not spent the past quarter century reading up on the subject.

Also I noticed the film takes inspiration from famous sneaker movies that came before, as I 
believe I saw a little snippet from the 'Just for Kicks' graphics in the opening sequence.  
In addition there are tons of nods towards what was and what was to come in the Nike universe
Wheaties and Brillo boxes, a ton of the old Nike Posters designed by John Brown & Partners and 
some of Phil Knight's insane neon outfits are just a few of the many details I enjoyed spotting.

And for those who are checking the movie out of the sneaker bubble; it is still a very 
entertaining and informative piece about the complications of putting a price on passion 
and dedication and at the same time highlighting what an exceptional deal the Air Jordan line 
was for the athletes that followed;
precedent for athlete's autonomy and sponsoring/testimonial contracts.

Over all some very enjoyable 118 minutes filled with fun facts and insights. 
A big thank you to André Langenfeld and Hilde Läufle from Rubi-Pr for the invitation!

Saturday, March 25, 2023

The Archive Room

On Tuesday I spent a wonderful evening with Ernie at the size? x adidas panel talk in the 
saatchi gallery where currently the amazing 'Beyond the Streets' exhibition is being 
showcased.

We had the pleasure spending a short time almost by ourselves checking out the impressive 
collection and where in awe of the curation and mass of inedible rarities!
Ernie himself exhibited 32 pairs of his Adidas basketball collection, and I felt honored to see 
my SQ Rivalry amongst his selection.

After some last touch ups on his pairs, the displays where sealed and the doors opened.

At the following panel discussion we had the chance to speak about my favorite subject with 
f3lix and DJ Semtex - the socio-cultural background of various sneaker models.

A quick meet with Jason Coles and Thomas Turner was the icing on the cake.

A big thank you to Size? for this great short trip and to everyone who came out even though 
I hardly got to talk to most of my guest. Hope I see you again soon

All pictures after the jump









Friday, March 17, 2023

London, I am coming to the Archive Room

Join me this Tuesday at the Saatchi gallery from 7:30pm where size? will be partnering up with 
adidas originals and Beyond the Streets to bring you The Archive Room



































There will be a footwear exhibition consisting of legendary vintage adidas basketball silhouettes plus a 
panel discussion with Ernie Beckmann, yours truly and Felix Young plus a special guest host.

Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York’s HQ
Kings Road
London
SW3 4RY

Saturday, March 11, 2023

What needs to change in Women's Sneaker Releases?

Thank you Sneaker Freaker for this feature and post!
For giving some female opinions a platform in an industry that tends to only show a tiny slice 
of everything that females are and strive to be.





























Some great statements by these awesome women:

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Nike OTC Meeting 2023

After 3 years of COVID-related abstinence, last weekend the Nike OTC meeting finally took 
place in Shibuya again.
It's been a long wait, I was eager to see many familiar but also some new faces again, 
have some time to chat and nerd out about the models everyone brought and get my 
yearly dose of sneaker obscurities.
Unfortunately our dear Jumi was unable to join this year due to a knee injury, but Marseille 
was very well represented instead.

Because to the very long COVID break this year’s awesome theme was “good bye CORONA”

COLONA, the japanese pronunciation includes the numbers:
CO→5
LO→6
NA→7
so everyone was supposed to to bring models produced in 1975.76.77 or 1985.86.87.

Of course the Nike Air Jordan 1, Terminator and Dunk where heavily represented in every 
obscure way, but also a huge amount of 70s models were filling the shelves.

Apart from being able to spend some time with my dear Japanese sneaker crew I was 
overwhelmed with incredible presents, which made me feel like my birthday and Christmas 
came on the same day.

Ravanelli.konno surprised me with a beautiful original Salem Ewing t-shirt, Kunii-San sent 
me some Mita Forums, which where hand delivered by Chooee and I was super lucky to 
win an amazing bundle of vintage goodies from Nic at the raffle!

I will post these items as soon as I am back in Germany, but for now I am enjoying 
some time off in Koh Lanta, Thailand.

Thank you Nike OTC for your warm welcome, making great new memories and the precious 
time. 
A noteworthy special thank you goes to Smit/Shin-Ichiro, Yusuke and Toshiya-Towa for 
putting so much work and love into planning this perfect event!




































































All pictures after the jump 

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